Birding is a very popular pastime for folks, and many of us feed the birds. According to estimates from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, approximately 7.4 million residents participate in watching wildlife. Another estimated 2.7 million people come here from other states for birding.

New York ranks second nationwide for active birding. I’ve written here in the past about the I BIRD NY challenge, which runs from March 1 through November 1. With over 450 different bird species living here or passing through on migration, there’s a lot to see.

Today let’s learn a little bit about the Cedar Waxwing. They are a member of the passerine family of birds. So are over half of all bird species. Passerine means that they perch on branches and have toes arranged to be able to do so.

Cedar Waxwings are medium-size birds that are mainly brownish-grey with hints of yellow. They have a distinctive subdued crest of feathers on their heads. Part of their name comes from a bright red wax-like secretion on the tips of some of their wing feathers.

The Cedar Waxwing can fly at speeds up to 25 miles per hour and at altitudes up to 2000 feet high. Flocks travel with strong, direct movements.

They are very social birds and are often found in groups. They prefer habitat along the edge of forests and groves of trees. Cedar Waxwings generally nest between 6 and 20 feet above the ground, but occasionally much higher.

While building the nest, a female can make as many as 2,500 trips back and forth gathering materials. She will often steal material from the nests of other birds. Five or six speckled eggs are laid and incubated for 11 to 13 days. Sometimes two separate broods of chicks are raised during the breeding season.

Cedar Waxwings eat a diet that consists of Eastern Red Cedar cones (hence the other part of the name), berries, sugary fruits, and various insects. Waxwings can subsist for months on just fruit. The birds exhibit interesting social behavior in that if berries are only available at the tip of a branch, they will line up along it and pass them from beak to beak, down the line, until all birds are fed.

If the birds encounter fruit that is overripe and has fermented to produce alcohol, they get intoxicated from it. In excess, it has been documented that they sometimes die from alcohol poisoning.

Cedar Waxwings are listed as a species of least concern. Their numbers are quite stable, although they naturally fluctuate considerably.

Here is an odd fact about the Cedar Waxwing to close with. Since the 1960s, some of them have been observed with orange tips on their tail feathers instead of the usual yellow. The cause was found to come from the birds eating the red berries of the invasive Amur honeysuckle shrub while fledging.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!